June 2016 - Picture of the Month
The Region surrounding Antares in Scorpio
Image was provided courtesy of Stefan Binnewies, Otto Guthier, Rainer Sparenberg and Josef Pöpsel. Please visit www.capella-observatory.com for more information about this image.
This outstanding image is here this month because I spotted it on www.capella-observatory.com and was stunned by the colour and how many deep-sky objects it contains.
There are no less than three large globular clusters, a mass of bright nebulae with a few dark ones thrown in, and too many double stars for me to count! I haven't spotted any galaxies though 😉
But my ulterior motive is that this is a composite of images taken on film. I'm still a film photographer in the daylight, and the detail and vibrancy of this image leaves me stunned. Please click on the image above to view its larger brother it's well worth it.
It's not the easiest region of the sky to observe from the UK, because it's low and the skies are always bright, but those further south may have more success in June.
James Whinfrey - Website Administrator.
Oh, and there are also a couple of planets nearby this year, but we don't speak of them.
